NATIONAL PARK SERVICE • U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Foundation Document Overview Bluestone National Scenic River West Virginia Contact Information For more information about the Bluestone National Scenic River Foundation Document, contact: [email protected] or 304-465-0508 or write to: Bluestone National Scenic River, P. O. Box 246 Glen Jean, WV 25846-0246 Purpose Significance Significance statements express why Bluestone National Scenic River resources and values are important enough to merit national park unit designation. Statements of significance describe why an area is important within a global, national, regional, and systemwide context. These statements are linked to the purpose of the park unit, and are supported by data, research, and consensus. Significance statements describe the distinctive nature of the park and inform management decisions, focusing efforts on preserving and protecting the most important resources and values of the park unit. 1. As one of the few undammed rivers within the eastern United States, the Bluestone National Scenic River exhibits a natural hydrology that supports a diversity of aquatic and riparian habitats and biological communities due to its variable and seasonal flow regime. 2. The Bluestone gorge is characterized by an expansive continuum of unfragmented river-to-rim forest. The forest surrounding the Bluestone National Scenic River contributes The purpose of the BLUESTONE NATIONAL to the larger, globally significant forest system that also SCENIC RIVER is to preserve the free- encompasses the New River Gorge National River and Gauley flowing waters of the Bluestone River, River National Recreation Area. This type of unfragmented the primitive character and outstanding forest system is uncommon throughout much of the eastern scenic qualities of the gorge, and a United States, and supports rare and federally threatened species, as well as 22 riparian and upland plant communities, diverse assemblage of natural resources 8 of which are globally rare. endemic to the Central Appalachian Mountains, while providing for the 3. The Bluestone National Scenic River contains a state wildlife benefit and enjoyment of present and management area that features an abundant variety of fish, future generations. wildlife, and game species, providing important public opportunities for traditional recreation uses such as hunting, fishing, and trapping in a rich scenic landscape that is largely primitive and undeveloped. 4. The geography of the Bluestone River Gorge, with its flat bottomlands, provided an easily navigable landscape that was one of the oldest corridors that American Indians and early settlers used to travel through the Appalachian Mountains, affording linkages to the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers. Fundamental Resources and Values Interpretive Themes Fundamental resources and values are those features, systems, Interpretive themes are often described as the key stories processes, experiences, stories, scenes, sounds, smells, or or concepts that visitors should understand after visiting other attributes determined to merit primary consideration a park—they define the most important ideas or concepts during planning and management processes because they are communicated to visitors about a park unit. Themes essential to achieving the purpose of the park and maintaining are derived from—and should reflect—park purpose, its significance. significance, resources, and values. The set of interpretive themes is complete when it provides the structure necessary • Biological Diversity for park staff to develop opportunities for visitors to explore • The Bluestone River and relate to all of the park significances and fundamental resources and values. • Historic Travel Corridor and Associated Cultural Resources • Diverse and unfragmented forests, extremes in topography and elevation, and the wild, free-flowing waters of the • Recreation Opportunities Bluestone River provide for a great diversity of plant and • Undeveloped Primitive Character animal species. • The Bluestone corridor has provided a pathway that connects people and cultures through place and time. • The Bluestone River Gorge provides a refuge for plants and animals displaced from warmer and lower elevation ecosystems, and will become more vital as global climates change. • The isolated, primitive character of the Bluestone River Gorge allows people to experience scenic landscapes that have been relatively untouched through time, providing opportunities for solitude and reflection while affording a glimpse into the geologic and historic past. North 0 5 Kilometers National Park Rapids Unpaved road 0 5 Miles Service area SUMMERSVILLE 16 LAKE r 39 WILDLIFE e v k i Dixie e 129 MANAGEMENT R e r AREA C s Summersville y r e e l t Lake u Swiss e Masons a P Branch G Belva Jodie CARNIFEX FERRY 19 BATTLEFIELD STATE PARK 39 River H uley Gauley 41 o miny Ga C r Tailwaters r e e e v 129 i Woods k Mount Nebo R Ferry y e S l u u GAULEY RIVER n a da G y Ro ad Gauley NATIONAL RECREATION AREA d Bridge a M 41 o e R a 16 d y ad o 60 a Ro w d HAWKS NEST r R e u n iv r t w Miller iv R a o d e 60 STATE PARK S t a r g o Ridge n R ANSTED i Road r y a t a Victor S d h n u w S a n CSX Railroad 19 a K Hico Cotton Hill Hawks Nest 60 Dam 5 16 Ames Heights New River Canyon Rim Visitor Center Gorge Bridge Lansing 82 Fayette Station Road Edmond Lookout 82 FAYETTEVILLE Nuttallburg d Winona R k Kaymoor e K e e Cr 16 Mine Site eneys Meado N w 19 R ek e CAMP re w i C WASHINGTON v e CARVER r f l Clifftop o 61 W d a o R Mann Cunard s C ewood ree Gat DescriptionSewell k BABCOCK 60 OAK HILL Brooklyn R i STATE PARK v Grist RAINELLE e r Mill Minden C 41 SX 612 Thurmond R Bluestone National Scenic River is a unit of theail rnationaload park More than 700 species of plants grow in several diverse Dunglen Plum Whipple system, Orchardand is also a part of the national wild and scenic Appalachian forest habitat types along the river. The park 61 Thurmond Historic District 20 rivers system. Lake The national wild and scenic rivers system provides excellent opportunities for watching many mammal, nloup C Du re ek 25 Stone Cliff M protectsPLUM ORCHARDrivers throughout the country that are free-flowing bird, amphibian, reptile,Danese and insect species. The riverbed c WILDLIFE k and possess “outstandinglyGlen remarkable” Jean scenic, natural,e habitat is alive with a carpet of macro-invertebrate aquatic n M MANAGEMENT dree R e AREA oad ad cultural, geological, and recreationalSUMMIT BECHTEL values. The headwaters species, supports healthy populationsow of many warm water B r FAMILY NATIONAL i of the Bluestone River16 begin at an elevation of 3,500 feet game and nongame fishes, andd is classified as a “high quality SCOUT RESERVE g e on East River Mountain near Bluefield, Virginia, and flowThayer warm water stream” by the state of West Virginia. R MOUNT HOPE d for 77 miles to Bluestone Lake near Hinton, West Virginia, 41 Dow 31 dy k e The bottomland Cre within the gorge of the Bluestone was first at 1,409 feet. The lower 10.5 miles of the Bluestone CRiver, r l 61 Army usede by American Indians. In the late 1700s the Lilly, Meadow, cutting through an impressive and biologically diverse gorge, r Camp u Grandview a has been designated as BluestoneTerry National ScenicPrince River,Sandbar andL Farley families built homesteads along the river. Historical 19 NEW RIVER GORGE Meadow Bridge and is bordered by two state parks and a public fishingQuinnimont area. records from the 18th century indicate that the route up the McCreery 41 NATIONAL RIVER Pipestem Resort State Park provides a year-round resort Bluestone River and Little Bluestone River was an American Creek T w 64 CSX R o o a Indian trail that later becamed the Giles, Fayette, 20and Kanawha type facility77 16and Bluestone State Park offers a variety ioflro a l ad e l Grandview M 64 R k TurnpikeN that passes through modern-day Beckley and k e Glade Creek recreationalo opportunities. Thee responsibility of protecting e re e r w a C C d y Fayetteville, West Virginia. At the confluence of the Bluestone 19 41 ll R e Bluestone National Scenic River is shared betweeni the i n v Sandstone i M e P and Little Bluestoner Meadow Rivers, the community of LillyGreen once Sulphur National Park Service, West Virginia State Parks, and the eek Creek Visitor Center Cr Spring Tamarack flourished. The Bluestone Turnpike, a riverbank road used West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. A sectione of 9 d H Meadow Creek L a Raleigh County a by those who farmed and timbered the area until theick 1940s, rp l Bluestone Nationaler Scenic RiverMemorial lies Airport within the boundaries C G 7 r 3 e is used today by visitors to the park. Time spent in thoughtfule of PipestemR Resort State Park, and the remaining portion is k d 41 BECKLEY K 64 an solitude along this little mountain river offers the visitor a also a77 West Virginiaaw Wildlife Management Area. Bluestone Sandstone Falls Sandstone F ha a St yet vestige of primitive America. The Bluestone Turnpike Trail, Dam, located16 ont ethe S New River, impounds 2.4 miles of the64 La t ur 307 el 307 which follows the river for nine miles from Cr the Mountain Creek Bluestone River. Little eek Beaver Lodge (at the base of the tram at Pipestem Resort State Park) Beaver 19 Daniels 26 The Bluestone River,64 named for the deep blueLake limestone to Bluestone State Park, is open for hiking, biking, and horses. R iv LITTLE BEAVER er streambed of its upper reaches in Virginia, has created a gorge Opportunities for canoeing R and kayaking are usually limited to STATE PARK oa 1,000 feet deep.